Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2019, Day Five: Charities
Posted on December 6, 2019 Posted by John Scalzi 39 Comments
For the last four days, the Whatever Gift Guide 2019 has been about helping you find the perfect gifts for friends and loved ones. But today I’d like to remind folks that the season is also about helping those in need. So this final day is for charities. If you’re looking for a place to make a donation — or know of a charitable organization that would gladly accept a donation — this is the place for it.
How to contribute to this thread:
1. Anyone can contribute. If you are associated with or work for a charity, tell us about the charity. If there’s a charity you regularly contribute to or like for philosophical reasons, share with the crowd. This is open to everyone.
2. Focus on non-political charities, please. Which is to say, charities whose primary mission is not political — so, for example, an advocacy group whose primary thrust is education but who also lobbies lawmakers would be fine, but a candidate or political party or political action committee is not. The idea here is charities that exist to help people and/or make the world a better place for all of us.
3. It’s okay to note personal fundraising (Indiegogo and GoFundMe campaigns, etc) for people in need. Also, other informal charities and fundraisers are fine, but please do your part to make sure you’re pointing people to a legitimate fundraiser and not a scam. I would suggest only suggesting campaigns that you can vouch for personally.
3. One post per person. In that post, you can list whatever charities you like, and more than one charity. Note also that the majority of Whatever’s readership is in the US/Canada, so I suggest focusing on charities available in North America.
4. Keep your description of the charity brief (there will be a lot of posts, I’m guessing) and entertaining. Imagine the person is in front of you as you tell them about the charity and is interested but easily distracted.
5. You may include a link to a charity site if you like by using standard HTML link scripting. Be warned that if you include too many links (typically three or more) your post may get sent to the moderating queue. If this happens, don’t panic: I’ll be going in through the day to release moderated posts. Note that posts will occasionally go into the moderation queue semi-randomly; Don’t panic about that either.
6. Comment posts that are not about people promoting charities they like will be deleted, in order to keep the comment thread useful for people looking to find charities to contribute to.
All right, then: It’s the season of giving. Tell us where to give to make this a better place.
Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM) is the nonprofit I founded, and we’ve been growing and expanding and are a Real Thing(tm) now. It’s seriously insane to me that basically only privileged kids can get opportunities to learn math and science at a high level, so we work to create pathways for students from low-income and historically marginalized communities to do just that and become scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and programmers. In other words, we want the future SF imagines to be built by a diverse and amazing group of people. Many of our kids are now science/math/engineering majors at top colleges, including lots of ivies and such, on full scholarship.
We run in NYC and LA now but are expanding, and we’d love support to keep growing. Plus, we’re super nerdy and have a pi-match where new donors get their donation multiplied by 3.14159… by our board’s matching funds. :)
https://www.beammath.org
John, thank you again for opening up Whatever for this promotion.
The Heinlein Society was founded by Virginia Heinlein and exists to preserve the legacy renowned writer Robert Anson Heinlein left us in novels, essays, speeches and short stories that remain as fresh as ever. We intend, in Heinlein’s words to “PAY IT FORWARD” since we can never pay back the benefits that we got from him and his work. We’ve chosen to do that by making a few key programs the heart of our mission.
We provide free educational materials to teachers, librarians, and homeschoolers. (Learn more at: http://www.heinleinsociety.org/thseducation/ .)
We also promote Heinlein Blood Drives at conventions. Since Robert Heinlein started the blood drives this is one of our core missions. We have now collected over 43,000 units since 2001. If you attend a convention that doesn’t have a blood drive, contact our Blood Drive Chairman at BloodDriveChair@Heinleinsociety.org and talk to him about volunteering so we can make an even greater impact.
In 2019, our scholarship program for STEM students continued. We granted three $2000 scholarships, including our “Ginny” scholarship which is open to female STEM students only. A donation to this program could help us increase either the dollar amount or the number of scholarships we can support.
Our Heinlein for Heroes (H4H) program supports military members and veterans by providing copies of Heinlein’s books, as well as other science fiction books to deployed troops and military hospitals. Since its inception in 2013, we have shipped over 24,000 books to service members around the world.
As a private, nonpartisan 501(c)(3), The Heinlein Society survives on membership fees and donations to support our programs. As these resources plateau and the demands on our organization increase, we are asking for your support with a direct gift to the Society to support our mission. So if you have ever grokked, shared water, been amused by or owned by a cat, loved AI computers or have longed for the stars, pay it forward just a little bit by considering making a tax deductible donation or by becoming a member. If you donate, you can choose which of our programs your donation supports. http://www.heinleinsociety.org/
Also, even though we’re a charity at heart, one cool benefit for members is the chance to win a “Virginia Edition” leatherbound set of all of Heinlein’s published works. We’ve given three sets away so far and will be giving another one way for members this year. Thank you!
John Tilden,
President, The Heinlein Society
Unhushed provides comprehensive sex ed for all ages, helping to improve relationships between parents and children and facilitate discussion of vital, but difficult, topics. They’re working on curriculum to provide accurate information in a fun and engaging way. Mostly they focus on middle and high schoolers, but they’re working on curriculum for all ages and in different languages. Good things are coming down the pike with these folks and I highly recommend you help them help everyone. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=xYCIq5Xy7oDr2jbmFpKkTr15l2VQUNz-nRx_vkpWbBPsck9BMneKEHiJaUtkg9MtkSnuA0&country.x=US&locale.x=US
My name is Felicity Banks, and I would like to build a big, beautiful house for disabled refugee families to live in while they adjust to life in my home city of Canberra, Australia. I’m disabled myself, and have spent a lot of time in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and China (I was once fluent in Bahasa and I have smatterings of other languages). My partner and kids and I would live in the house where I could teach English and other skills. There would be a very large communal room that could be used for classes, and would also act as an evacuation centre during emergencies such as the current unprecedented bushfire season.
At the moment I’m in the planning stage, consulting with builders, accountants, and so on. I’m also collecting a list of people that like the idea and would like me to contact them when official fundraising starts (hence me posting here; please email me at fellissimo@hotmail.com if you want in).
The house will be owned by an Advisory Board which will approve expenses, tenants, and fundraising efforts. I’m connecting with some refugee advocacy groups, specifically one that already does something similar (so is useful as a potential oversight group for me and ‘my’ Advisory Board) but I won’t name them until we have a formal agreement.
Which is why all I’m asking for is email addresses, so far.
I like ‘Equality Now’
Thanks, John.
DUFF, the Down Under Fan Fund, was created by John Foyster in 1970 as a means of increasing the face-to-face communication between science fiction fans in Australia and New Zealand, and North America.
I was the 2017 NA Delegate and traveled to the New Zealand and Australian National SF conventions thsnks to DUFF. Marlee Jane Ward was the 2018 Australasian Delegate, and came to SAn Jose to Worldcon that year. 2019 we saved our pennies because in 2020 we will have a new NA delegate, to send to New Zealand for the Worldcon in Wellington.
So we need your help to make that happen
You can donate directly here: https://www.princejvstin.com/duff-1
You can also buy “What I did on my summer vacation, the 2017 DUFF report” here, a PDF replete with my adventures down under, with TONS of photos. All proceeds go to DUFF
https://www.princejvstin.com/buy-a-print-or-image/the-2017-down-under-fan-fund-report
I always recommend the Sabin Institute’s network for neglected tropical diseases:
https://sabin.netdonor.net/page/17655/donate/1
They do good work around the world helping people overcome debilitating diseases. And they get a consistently good rating from Charity Navigator:
https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=5982
Helping Hands, Monkey Helpers is an organization that trains monkeys to help those who are physically unable to help themselves. You can check it out here: https://monkeyhelpers.org/
DOBERMANS. In real life, not the movies, they are people oriented dogs that crave human companionship. Doberman Rescue of the Triad, centered in North Carolina but adopting to other states, is a long standing 501c3 dog rescue that specializes in finding forever homes for Dobes that have lost theirs. Since 1997, they have placed almost 1800 Dobes! Rescue is very expensive, especially the veterinary bills. And 2019 has had the highest number of heartworm cases in their history. They could really use your help to rebuild their medical fund.
Their motto: Save One Until There Are None.
You can see available dogs and donate at their website http://www.Doberman-Rescue.com.
My ‘favorite’ reason why an owner surrendered their Dobe to DRT? The owner built a new house and didn’t want the dog getting it dirty.
Ah! My friend is running a gently loved kids’ toy drive for their ninth year running in Pitt, PA!
http://www.playitforwardpittsburgh.com/
I lead The Heart of Texas Chorus in San Marcos. We are a non-profit a capella chorus affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society that provides outreach through singing. Last night we performed at two assisted living facilities and a hospital, and will continue to do so throughout the season. See the link for more details on who we are, what we do, and what our budget looks like.
gf.me/u/vv967b
I work at the Center for Democracy & Technology. For nearly 25 years, CDT has worked to bring policy-makers, companies, and stakeholders to the table, fighting for real-world solutions to some of society’s biggest technology policy issues.
So far this year, we have:
– Advocated to Congress in more than 350 meetings and briefings in support of privacy legislation, free speech online and against government surveillance
– Trained election officials on cybersecurity and audits, impacting over 47 million potential voters across 28 states;
– Hosted student privacy discussions with education officials representing nearly 12 million students across 14 states;
– Educated the public through the media, including The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Politico, FOX, and NPR;
– Testified before legislative bodies at both the state and national level; and
– Persuaded courts across the country to protect critical issues ranging from net neutrality to your right to privacy.
The internet isn’t a perfect place, but we work hard to protect and promote the best parts of it. You can support our work here: https://cdt.org/donate/
Thanks!
I’d like to mention my two favorite nonprofit dog organizations:
– Family Dogs New Life Shelter in Portland, OR is a no-kill shelter devoted to rescuing needy dogs of all breeds, ages and backgrounds. They frequently get hard to place dogs from other organizations, and will foster them until they can be placed with an appropriate family. Since 2004 they’ve placed nearly 15,000 dogs.
– Old Dog Haven in Seattle, WA is a network of foster homes providing a loving safe home for abandoned senior dogs. ODH helps owners rehome seniors, as well as fostering and providing “Final Refuge” homes where dogs can spend their last years in comfort and peace.
The International Youth Music Project is a Seattle based registered charity that provides instruments & funds music lessons for disadvantaged kids, primarily in East Africa
Our typical student is an HIV+ orphan, or a kid living in one of the slums outside major cities in Kenya & Uganda. Our teachers are all locals with a passion for music and music industry education.
Right now we are also entering into discussions to expand our reach to include another orphanage.
We’ve also donated instruments to US groups & sent them to refugee camps in Burma!
https://internationalyouthmusicproject.org/
https://facebook.com/InternationalYouthMusicProject/
My Angel With Paws is a Florida-based charity that raises, trains, and places service dogs in order to help people live more independent lives.
What makes MAWP special is that they’re entirely volunteer-run all the way up to the board of directors, that they work on a sliding scale that enables lower-income people to obtain highly trained service dogs, and that they emphasize a lifetime of support for every team.
I am medically retired army, and I currently have my second service dog provided through My Angel With Paws. When my first service dog was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer, MAWP rallied around me. Although there is always a waiting list, they brought in some dogs that had not yet been paired off for me and my current pup to meet. The dog who picked me, because that’s how they do it there, still had 6 months of training left to be ready for placement. The puppy raisers and the head trainer got together and decided that they would pull him in from his home placement early and I would be allowed to live with family near by and finish his training alongside them myself.
This is only one example of how much they care about their Handler family and how much they care that the dogs go to the right place and are treated right. They also check in on their dogs and have a contract that lets them pull a dog if someone has stopped using it as a service dog or is mistreating it.
Because this is an all volunteer organization expenses are lower, but they are still sizeable. They go through 18 to 20 bags of dog food a month, and they also have Veterinary costs which are partially donated by a friendly local but still at up when you consider how many dogs they have in training at one time. They have staff who live on site, and everyone who lives there winds up spending money from their own personal jobs to keep the place running well.
Of course, MAWP could do what many Charities do out of necessity and not offer a sliding scale. They chose instead to encourage fundraising so each client could pay for each $30,000 service dog. That’s not the route they want to take. They recognize that a lot of people who could benefit strong with my service dog don’t have the support network in place to mount a successful crowdfunding campaign or the income to qualify for a loan. So they take on a third job as Perpetual fundraisers to enable them to place as many dogs as possible at as low a cost to those in financial difficulty. I myself cannot afford $30,000, but they worked with me without even thinking twice. (I currently run their website for them to help give back.)
If you’re looking to donate to a non-political, Feel Good Charity staffed by amazing people who give as an instinct, and also see a lot of cute puppy pictures and potentially get a chance to name my new puppy, check out My Angel With Paws. I’m going to link their website, but you should follow their Facebook because they do dog food drive whenever their brand is on sale for 2 / 1 at chewy and that’s a great way to give back.
https://www.myangelwithpaws.org/
Quick edit: most other charities encourage fundraising, MAWP does sliding scale. I don’t know if that was clear.
If any of you are D&D fans and have missed Patches’ stories on Reddit, here’s a Christmas present for you:
https://www.reddit.com/r/patches765/comments/5isji2/intelligent_gaming_index/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=patches765&utm_content=t3_e1njfk
Tons of great stories from a talented writer and DM!
But life has kicked him in the teeth recently and he’s struggling to manage some medical bills. His regular readers heard and suggested he open a gofundme so we could pay him back for all the entertaining stories he’s been giving out for free. Please read a few stories and decide if they’re worth chipping in a few dollars to help him get well and be able to continue telling more.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/qe78wy-emergency-medical-fund?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1
We were delighted to have John speak at our national conference in Cleveland last year. His remarks were a thoughtful and humorous break from our work preventing gambling addiction. 6 million problem gamblers account for a disproportionate share of the $115 billion Americans lost gambling last year. Most who receive help recover but less than 1% get the services they need. This holiday season help the National Council on Problem Gambling provide the safety net for the 200,000+ callers to our helpline. Thank you! https://ncpgambling.site-ym.com/donations/donate.asp?id=17714.
Shameless plug! (Here’s plug pengin to prove it: https://technicalpenguins.com/wp-content/themes/technical-penguins/assets/images/plug_pengin.png)
My wife and I run Pengins For Everyone, a registered nonprofit devoted to sending stuffed penguins to people who need them. Sometimes the recipients are obvious: People going through medical issues, people who have lost someone close to them. But we also try to broaden the idea of who “needs” or “deserves” a penguin (spoiler: EVERYONE deserves a penguin): Once we sent one to a grandmother in a Canadian nursing home suffering from Alzheimer’s, who had two stuffed animals she had named after two of her three children (the request was from one of the nurses). We sent one per child to a family whose home was destroyed by a fire. We sent one to a teenager in Australia who had been having a rough time starting middle school.
Our base-level idea is to send more happiness into the world. You can read more about the genesis of the idea (and why we call them “pengins”) here: https://penginsforeveryone.com/about-us/. Or you can see the full list of where we’ve sent friends here: https://penginsforeveryone.com/view-the-pengins/.
If you think books are important (you’re here, aren’t you?) you might check out the American Bookbinders Museum in San Francisco. We’re the only museum focused on book-binding and the history of the book as a physical object–the container into which information and entertainment has been poured for two millennia. It’s a history of the people–men, women, and children–who made books, and what happened when technology came into play in the 19th century (spoiler: books became accessible to the masses and the world changed).
You can donate money or (if you happen to have them) binding-related objects: https://bookbindersmuseum.org/support/donate-2/
You can also become a member: https://bookbindersmuseum.org/support/donate/membership/
Full disclosure: I’m the Operations Manager of the museum, and I believe fiercely that its mission is more critical than ever.
Kevin’s Song is a unique suicide prevention nonprofit that’s located in Michigan but has a national reach. Among other things, every year Kevivn’s Song puts on a major conference that brings together professionals from all areas of suicide prevention and research — for example, people working on suicide among youth, veterans, the elderly, LGBT people, etc. — *and* survivors of suicide and people who have lost loved ones to suicide, so they can learn from one another and bring what they’ve learned into the world to save more lives. The next conference is next month. Here’s the link to learn more, attend the conferance, and/or to make a donation: https://kevinssong.org/
Once again, I am going to plug supporting your local Friends of the Library group, whomever they might be. Our local one (MFOL) is picking up a lot of the slack because our book budgets are down; they also purchased a new bespoke bookmobile for our island when ours fell apart. Friends groups in general do a great deal of support for libraries to get necessary things they might otherwise not.
I’ve been working for 20 years with a Los Angeles literacy group called Reading to Kids (our name is our mission). We hold monthly reading camps at 8 elementary schools near downtown Los Angeles in financially low-income areas where English is not the first language for the students. At the reading clubs, volunteers read to the kids and work with them on a craft project that relates to the book. Each child receives a book at the end of the reading clubs and all of the school libraries receive hundreds of books from Reading to Kids each year. Parents also benefit – during the reading clubs the parents receive training on how to encourage their children to read at home.
Since its inception in 1999, Reading to Kids has given 175,805 prize books to children who attend the reading clubs, donated 32,446 hardcover books to school libraries, and our volunteers have spent more than 217,104 hours reading to kids.
You can find out more about the organization and/or make a secure online credit card/PayPal donation at http://www.readingtokids.org.
Bat Conservation International (BCI) works to preserve the world’s bats and their ecosystems, helping ensure a healthier planet… Bats are often “keystone” species, consuming crop pests, pollinating plants of many kinds, spreading seeds, and creating fertilizer. Many species are threatened and bats as a whole tend to be misunderstood and under-appreciated. Besides, bats are cool!
http://www.batcon.org/
I’d like to recommend a bigger thing with a wider reach…but I have a 46-year-old artist friend who’s battling lung cancer.
She started a GoFundMe a few months ago, when she started treatment, because she’s had other physical issues that were already keeping her from painting, etc. (that is, reduced her to no income)–and with her illness, her musician husband has had to devote most of his time to being her caregiver instead of teaching and playing. Which means no income to speak of.
She said on FB recently that she thinks the costs of her treatment have already exceeded $1,000,000.00. I don’t know how much her insurance will cover. But they still need to pay rent and buy food and do all the other daily things that keep body and heart together.
If you have it to share with a complete stranger, even a few dollars, I would be grateful if you could contribute to her campaign.
I hope I did the link correctly…
Pets! Veterans! Pets for Veterans! More specifically – veterans with PTSD. We’ve all heard the statistics – 22 veterans commit suicide PER DAY. 22 is 22 too many, and it’s heartbreaking how our country has not done more to help. My family and I are currently fostering 2 pups for a group called Northwest Battle Buddies, a fabulous group intent on getting the BEST trained dogs for those who need them. Here is a link to their short video series, A Vision of Hope. https://www.northwestbattlebuddies.org/a-vision-of-hope/
Not everyone can foster, for obvious reasons. Time, location, etc. But anyone can donate – and by donating, you’ll be helping so many of these veterans that the VA and their own country have left behind. Some of the veterans that end up with dogs have been battling PTSD for 20-30 years. And now, they have a friend and companion to help them through it – one who doesn’t judge, but just loves them and gives them the ability to do things they may not have done for a very long time – go to the movies. Fly on a plane. Go to the mall. Things that we all take very much for granted. Your donations can help a veteran feel *normal* again. https://www.northwestbattlebuddies.org/donate/
For more information about the group as a whole, you can visit either of the links above to also explore their website, or you can check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NorthwestBattleBuddies/
My husband and I are both veterans. And it breaks our hearts to see how so many of our vets have been abandoned by the very country that they served. We can all put our money where our mouths are, and help.
As an adult literacy instructor, I would like to recommend iCivics.org, founded by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. This organization attempts to remediate primary and secondary students on such basics as the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the basics of how our legislative/executive/judicial system works. Their approach is not just through reading and discussion, but also through role-playing games. I have used these materials for adult literacy students, most of whom have no idea what their rights are and why. Highly recommended.
Approximately one in 8 people worldwide lacks access to clean water. One of my favorite charities is working to address that:
https://www.charitywater.org
I also donate to Doctors Without Borders:
https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
Heifer International:
https://www.heifer.org
Habitat for Humanity:
https://www.habitat.org
and to my local services organizations and food banks. Check out your local organizations – they probably do a lot of good and could use a boost!
As an aside, Charity Navigator can provide basic information on a lot of popular charities, and is itself a charitable organization:
https://www.charitynavigator.org
Thanks for thinking of others!
Here’s my annual plug for the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an organisation that does amazing work with orphaned and abandoned elephants — along with a few other individuals that come their way. Sponsoring an elephant is cheap and you get monthly updates, and best of all the elephants have a safe, healthy environment.
I volunteer for an organization called Immigrant Families Together, which pays bonds for asylum seekers separated from their children at the border and reunites them (note that our 501(c)3 status is pending but GoFundMe is acting as our fiscal sponsor so donations are tax-deductible):
https://www.gofundme.com/f/ifteverydollarcounts
I also like to support independent news organizations like ProPublica and The Marshall Project, both of which are doing tremendous investigative work. Thanks to Newsmatch, donations to these and other newsrooms are matched until the end of the year:
https://www.newsmatch.org/
And finally, I personally love giving to bond funds because the money cycles back to the organization as people’s cases get cleared, so your money can serve to bond out multiple people:
https://www.massbailfund.org/
Odd Salon is an independent community project dedicated to finding and sharing stories from the odd corners of history, science, art, and adventure. We bring experts and amateurs together monthly to tell strange-but-true stories live on stage in San Francisco and New York City.
Myself and the other fellows are raising funds for our seventh year of live salons, research and storycraft resources, workshops, gatherings and artwork. https://www.classy.org/fundraiser/2521627 is my personal fundraising page.
Lifeline Animal Project.
These people are superhuman. The run low cost spay/neuter clinics for metro Atlanta. And since they took over running the Fulton County Animal Shelter, they have labored like Hercules to make it no-kill. I don’t know anyone who works harder for cats and dogs than they do. That’s why I give them a monthly contribution.
https://lifelineanimal.org/
SOFTBONES.ORG. This organization raises money for treatment and support for those whomsuffer from HPP, hypophosphotasia, a rare, and sometimes fatal, metabolic bone disease. My best friend’s grandson, Miles, was diagnosed with perinatal HPP, which is almost always fatal, but this beautiful boy just celebrated his second birthday. We’re not ones to sensationalize Miles and tend to avoid broadcasting our struggles and worries. For #GivingTuesday as we ask everyone to once again help us by donating to Soft Bones, we want to share some of our behind the scenes. Because this is why we put so much time and effort into fundraising.
Miles is on an AH-MAZ-ING drug, an enzyme replacement therapy that has quite literally saved his life. Before this drug was developed, more than 80% of patients with HPP that suffered from respiratory compromise and 100% of infant patients that suffered from B6 responsive seizures died (source Alexion Pharmaceuticals). Miles suffers from both of those. All of us who love him are unbelievably grateful for this enzyme replacement therapy. But it doesn’t completely wipe out the worries of those statistics. For one, this drug is one of the most expensive medications in the world. Currently the pharmacy (a specialty pharmacy and the only one that distributes this drug) lists the price tag at $57,657.60 every four weeks for Miles’s treatment. That comes to $749,548.80 every year. And as Miles continues to grow, his dose and the cost will as well. (As a note, Miles only weighs 22lbs, so he’s still tiny). My friend’s daighter and her husband are extremely fortunate to have good insurance that continues to cover orphan drugs, but it is not unheard of for plans to not cover these types of drugs or for companies to change to plans that do not cover these types of drugs once they’re hit with the exorbitant cost from a person that requires an orphan drug. Another possibility is that Miles stops responding to this drug. While there’s no indication of that so far (and we’re knocking on everything wooden within a 5 mile radius…) it’s not completely out of the realm of possibilities as there are people who don’t respond well or at all to this drug. And it is a worry that is always lingering over us.
While we are obviously a bit selfish in that we want a cure for Miles, a cure could help many more people. It is estimated that severe forms of HPP like what Miles suffers from occur in approximately 1 in every 100,000 births (source NIH NLM). Again, we are extremely fortunate that Miles is responding to treatment, but too many do not. Soft Bones maintains an HPP angels list. A list that grows all too quickly. So while yes we are selfishly fighting for a cure for Miles, we also fight for all of the other HPP families.
So see what you can spare and help us find a cure for HPP by donating and sharing.
https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/support-your-local-brigade
In NSW in Australia, massive wildfires …. well, it’s all in the news. 2/3 of the fire fighters (we call them “firies” in Oz) are volunteers. Firies from Canada, the US and NZ have also come in to help us.
Basically money donations go towards supporting and resourcing the Firies while they are fighting day in day out week in week out (with no end in sight). You can also physically give donations – specific fire brigades will tell you – but money helps best.
The donations are tax deductible in Australia,
I’d like to add North Bennet Street School in Boston, MA to the list.
NBSS is the oldest continually operating trade school in the US founded in 1881. You can see a little about the history of the school here: https://www.nbss.edu/about/overview
The school has training programs in many areas including Bookbinding (literary content). You can donate to the school here: https://www.nbss.edu/donate
Thanks!
This is Syd of the GoFundMe for my artist friend, which is here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/49jsu2-breathing-room
I’d like to recommend Ferret Association of Connecticut.
https://ferretassn.org
From that link you can drop down their Programs menu and find a world wide Shelter Directory program, for finding a shelter than accepts and adopts out ferrets, and also their Canine Distemper Fund which supplies money for vaccines to Ferret shelters world wide to control canine distemper outbreaks.
I volunteer with a small environmental nonprofit in upstate NY called Hudsonia. They have been around for 30 years or so and do their best to track the various species that live in the Hudson Valley. They help local communities with land use planning and also keep an eye on the impact of changing climate and invasive species. They are really great people doing something wonderful for that area and are often just squeaking by. You can check out their website at http://www.Hudsonia.org to learn more about them. Thank you!
thank you so much for doing this!